失蹤一陣 (updated)

家人到訪 + 之後出外遊玩...... 至早六月四日返到西班牙～大家睇住麻煩個曬太陽懶樣先喇～

Status update : I will be back in Spain on 20 June due to extension of hubby's assignment in Ho Chi Minh City.

睡蓮 Nymphaea 'Attraction'

（宋）周敦頤

水陸草木之花，可愛者甚蕃。晉陶淵明獨愛菊；自李唐來，世人盛愛牡丹；予獨愛蓮之出淤泥而不染，濯清漣而不妖，中通外直，不蔓不枝，香遠益清，亭亭靜植，可遠觀而不可褻玩焉。予謂菊，花之隱逸者也；牡丹，花之富貴者也；蓮，花之君子者也。噫！菊之愛，陶後鮮有聞；蓮之愛，同予者何人；牡丹之愛，宜乎眾矣。

我愛君子亦愛富貴...... 博愛也，嘿嘿～

隱者....隱～隱～

話說我同老公共用一個賬號，因為方便一鑊過買 credits 然後各自打電話返家鄉；不過佢除咗打電話俾阿爸阿媽，絕少用 Skype，所以個 account 基本上係我用晒，直至最近佢個美籍德裔朋友G開始用呢個方法同佢溝通.....

G係一個七十歲嘅男子，佢地兩條友仔識咗廿幾年，不過近十年聯絡唔多，一年頂多講幾次電話～而我只係見過G一次：1999年我地由香港搬去米蘭住，佢去德國省親順便過嚟探我地幾日。上年八月佢又玩去德國省親，原本諗住嚟西班牙幾日，不過八月熱屎辣辣，我地真係驚會熱鬼死佢，叫佢起碼九月中後先好嚟... 我諗佢冇打算留晌歐洲咁耐，終於冇嚟到，但起碼從此多返聯絡。

今年四月初佢失驚無神飛之前話俾老公聽去菲律賓結婚，應該起碼一個月之後先返美國～當時我地好愕然，之前都冇聽G講過有親密女友，不過呢兩個麻甩佬不嬲都講啲不著邊際無內容嘅嘢.... 我有諗過佢係咪為咗幫人假結婚入美籍，而老公又戲言諗佢「相對地平價請個妹仔」。基於我老公一貫溝通作風：人地唔講佢一定唔問，任得之後G自己想講乜佢就聽乜..... 不過我話：站在朋友立場，佢返到美國之後起碼都要主動恭喜吓卦！

不過.....兩星期之後某日，晌 Skype度見到G喎，我即刻召老公坐低同佢傾..... 原來佢「女友」悔婚踢佢返美國！我聽老公轉述：大約話呢位菲律賓女仕嘅仔女晌美國住而G識得佢地，咁G就識到佢，「細節」嘅嘢唔知勒.....總之佢過到菲律賓之後女友話自己係非常 religious 但G爛口兼 arrogant，相處唔嚟，要多啲時間考慮，起碼一年後～

G死死地氣返歸而且每日非常忠於晌 Skype，一見我個 account online就打嚟搵我老公吹兩咀！講真我冇乜嘢同佢講，我基本上同佢唔熟，我多數扮行開咗唔接佢電話，跟住話返俾老公知。四月尾開始老公去胡志明市出差六個星期，某日G又晌Skype打嚟，我諗住佢年紀大唔記得老公已經講咗佢聽出差唔晌屋企，咪接咗個call 同佢講幾句囉，點知佢見有人聽佢講，佢竟然講多啲被拒婚細節俾我知！例如佢話佢女友唔鍾意G kiss 佢，又話女友話結婚後唔可以 kiss..... 唉～呢啲嘢我真係唔想知呀！我之後同老公晌 Skype 度傾（佢開咗另一個 account），點解我咁有幸聽啲咁 'juicy' 嘅嘢，我要佢話清楚俾G知道佢已經有自己account，我雖然八，但我唔想同G傾呀！

今日晌 Skype又見到G，佢無 call 我，不過佢 send message 同我say hi，我回佢話同梗阿妹傾偈（其實唔係，係敷衍佢，等佢以為我忙唔好打攪我），點知佢問我妹結咗婚未，我一時手快打話未，跟住又問我妹幾歲，可唔可以 send張我妹嘅相俾佢，我妹識唔識英文，又問我估我妹有冇興趣同佢 chat......天呀～我扮顧住傾偈反應慢，只係斷續答咗佢話我呢部新電腦冇我妹嘅相、我妹XX 歲、佢當然識講英文....之後繼續扮忙無答佢.....後來佢話自己要去邊處邊處.... 我當然拜拜佢喇！

阿伯！你唔係呀嘛！你苦悶嘅話去試下 match.com 喇～我阿妹連我都嫌煩，點會有興趣同個做得佢老豆嘅耆英 chit chat 呀？

阿伯！你唔係呀嘛！雖然唔係三唔識七，未經人同意我點解要 send 相俾你呀？

我嬲呀！我之後同老公 Skype時講佢聽我覺得 the whole thing is ridiculous and disgusting，晌我忘記不快之前，我唔要再同G有任何方式嘅溝通，我暫時未有智慧去了解同幫助G呢個年紀嘅感情問題！

為咗唔再冒險，我將Skype 嘅 online status 設定做隱身～

p.s.我實在搵唔到一幅認為襯呢個 post嘅圖.....破例一次齋字！

蒙福的豬

圖片源自互聯網

我唔可以算係一個醒瞓嘅人：一般雜聲唔足以嘈醒我；除咗麻煩（&燒賣）嘅吠聲，同埋電話鈴聲。

前兩日同麻煩行街街時經過屋企對上兩條街英國人David嘅門口，見到佢地戙咗個出售牌，咁啱女主人Gerry晌屋外食煙，我多咀停低同佢傾幾句。Gerry之前已經同我講過佢俾呢個小區內嘅狗吠到就快發顛：因為區內嘅西班牙人通常都將啲（中、大型）狗用長鏈綁晌屋外，吠聲大係難免嘅事.... 其中一兩隻有時悶得滯都吠幾耐吓..... 最近佢實在頂唔順我住果條街一號嘅 Luna。Luna 亦係被長鏈綁晌屋外嘅一份子，Gerry 話佢好興午夜十二點幾一點時吠，而且又有附近其他狗吠和應，嚴重影晌佢嘅睡眠質素同精神健康！佢冇法令他人嘅狗唔吠，唯有賣屋搬走，佢地打算留返晌呢個小鎮，但係會租屋。不過哩..... 晌現今歐洲嘅經濟氣候下，想唔蝕而快快賣得出並非易事！

其實Luna午夜吠係回暖之後嘅事，因為多咗人深夜仍然晌街上，佢聽到陌生人聲先吠。我屋企同佢只係隔一間，但因為我哋二人一狗全部都非常有「福」，識得彈性「隔音」，通常都大覺瞓天光，呵呵～

吾家有「梨」初長成

可惜近來天陰多雨，汁應該冇問題，甜度就.....唔多睇好～

野蘭野蘭我愛您之三

Ophrys lutea Cav., Yellow bee orchid

Ophrys speculum Link subsp. speculum, Mirror bee orchid

Ophrys fusca Link subsp. fusca, Dark bee orchid

Ophrys fusca subsp. bilunulata, Dark bee orchid

Ophrys bombyliflora, Bumblebee orchid

Ophrys 蜂蘭嘅世界真係精彩，希望我能夠見多幾種！

望穿春水

終於停雨！落咗個幾禮拜，西班牙各大小水塘存水量都差不多或已經到頂，係時候好天勒！小麻煩又坐返落草地晒太陽，係真正回暖嘅指標哩 :)

亦都係我要做勤勞除／剪草小工蜂嘅時侯～

野蘭野蘭我愛您之二

尋日朝早帶麻煩去潟湖「晨運」，順便勘察其他地生蘭生長情況，不過依然未有 Orchis collina 以外嘅蹤影～ 老公知我渴望賞蘭，於是提議向 El Burgo 出發，沿途我都打醒精神，睇到有疑似蘭嘅物體或可能適合地生蘭生長嘅地段，我都叫停落車，展開「地毡式搜索」.... 雖然天陰有雨，能夠見到兩種之前未見過嘅品種，心情實在興奮！

Orchis olbiensis, 上年晌 El Torcal 附近已經見過

Ophrys picta, 屬於蜂蘭 scolopax 組別，第一次見！！！之前見過呢組內另一品種

估係 Ophrys lupercalis，屬於蜂蘭 fusca 組別，第一次見！！！眾多不同 dark bee orchid 品種實在分別細微，我並非專家，認錯機會好大！

呢個週末因為天災人亡關係，氣氛不免沉重，藉著欣賞大自然嘅美麗與巧妙，希望心情得以舒緩一下！

Ophrys 蜂蘭嘅少少介紹（節錄自維基百科）
Orchids of the genus Ophrys use sexual deception to attract pollinators to their flowers. In sexual deception, an orchid attracts male pollinators by producing the sex pheromone of virgin female pollinators in addition to providing visual and tactile cues. These signals stimulate mating behavior in the male pollinators, which then attempt copulation, called “pseudocopulation”, with the orchid labellum. During pseudocopulation, pollen from the flower’s column becomes attached to some part of the pollinator, usually the head or abdomen, and the pollinator inadvertently carries and transfers this pollen to other flowers when they are once again enticed into pseudocopulation. While the morphological cues such as the shape and texture of the labellum play a role especially at close range in inducing the pollinator mating behavior, the orchid’s pheromone mimic, or allomone, has been shown to play the most important role in enticing the pollinators to the flower.

The allomone produced by an orchid is specific for its pollinator, of which it usually only has one. The allomone is a mixture of alkenes and alkanes. There are one or more active species in this mixture that account for the attraction of pollinators. Pollinators and orchids use the same chemical compounds in the same absolute amounts in their pheromones and allomones, respectively.

 The Bumblebee Orchid (Ophrys bombyliflora) is a typical example. It has flowers that look and smell so much like female bumblebees that males flying nearby are irresistibly drawn in by this chemical signal, stimulating them sexually. The insect gets so excited that he starts to copulate with the flower. The firmness, the smoothness and the velvety hairs of the lip are a further incentive for the insect to enter the flower. The pollinia inadvertently stick to the head or the abdomen of the male bumblebee. On visiting another orchid of the same species, the bumblebee pollinates its sticky stigma with the pollinia. The filaments of the pollinia have, during transport, taken such a position that the waxy pollen are able to stick to the stigma. Such is the refinement of the reproduction. If the filaments hadn’t taken the new position, the pollinia could not have pollinated the new orchid.

Every Ophrys orchid has its own pollinator insect and is completely dependent on this species for its survival. Furthermore, duped males are not likely to return. They even ignore other plants of the same species. Therefore, only about 10% of an Ophrys population gets pollinated. This is enough to preserve the population, since each Ophrys orchid produces about 12,000 minute seeds.

那天再重聚

上年尾嘅香港行內，包含咗一個我期待咗一年嘅聚會－12/18 中學母校舊生大團聚－呢個活動之所以能夠「誕生」，臉書可謂功不可沒！

我嘅中學母校已經晌 1994 年結束，佢係跟隨香港學齡兒童人口轉型嘅產物：1977年9月，一間六層官小校舍，五層係小學生用，而第六層就係三班中一用；我係1979年入讀，第三屆，當時已經再無小學生嘞；1984年我中五畢業，而母校亦係第一年同另一間應該都係官小變官中嘅學校合辦預科班，不過母校係辦理科，我地文科三班嘅同學（除咗重讀中五嘅），都一定要同母校講拜拜；至1994年母校終於難逃「殺校」命運，初期好似改為教育局 office，而家又改返成小學。好一個循環！

自己由畢業後同大約十多個舊同學一直有聯絡，隨住年月同人海飄流，從最初一年兩次十三、四人嘅活動至近年最多四、五人一年一聚.....不過仍要感恩擁有廿多年嘅友誼。

2009年中晌臉書嘅 group 功能內用母校嘅名去搜尋，竟然已經有校友開咗個舊生 group，我當然立即加入，而且短時間內仲「重遇」幾個同級嘅同學。或者因為母校已經不再存在，我地返而對佢更加懷念，呢個 alumni FB group 有五百幾成員，係母校歷年學生總人數差不多三分一。而2009年尾終於有校友發起攪個 mega reunion，大家利用臉書作為號召聯絡人手嘅平台，之後 organising committe 成立、開會、策劃、各種行動，臉書理所當然地成為分享資訊、相片、進度嘅工具之一。

2010-12-18 我終於見到唔少廿多年無見嘅面孔，興奮之情今日仍然歷歷在目！

清菜+粗飯+柱侯豬軟骨

最近兩星期嘅 weekdays 多數係「獨居」，煮食自然完全只需要啱我口味，好爽！我係非常追捧每天「五色」蔬果飲食嘅人，亦盡量少食高升糖指數嘅澱粉類。

近年自己已經無咗失驚無神掛住港式食物嘅情況，亦無刻意晌居處同埋周邊城市找尋中式食材醬料嘅商舖，當然，路過碰到的話，價錢合理亦會購買 :)

上年尾回港臨走前兩日，貢入灣仔橫街一間蚊型超市作最後「衝刺」，當然有所斬獲。當時一心要買蒜蓉辣椒醬，咁啱柱候醬晌隔籬，於是買咗人生第一罌柱候醬！而開齋菜式係跟阿銀嘅麵醬柱侯豬軟骨..... 我無麵豉醬而阿銀提議我用日本dark miso，不過我亦無 dark miso，所以索性落多些少柱候醬算數；雖然味道層次無咁豐富，我已經心足，好味！

西班牙第一包

實在好耐冇整包，起碼兩年！近呢兩個月另一半斷斷續續哦我話想食自家包...... 趁住天氣開始回暖，順應「民意」整咗提子包。因為我唔食提子乾，咗一忽出嚟唔落。

新鮮出爐.....

無得話我落得唔夠多提子乾嘞啩！

小嘟咀

呢個係我嘅姨甥女，而家佢已經讀中三，高過我.....

細個嗰時佢係非常跟我，因為我同我家姐住得好近（步行兩分鐘），我一有時間就會過去同佢玩同佢一齊睇書，佢好鍾意聽我講古仔，同一故事百聽不厭......

上年12月返香港時我同佢一齊整 tiramisu，好多步驟係我講佢做，頭頭是道喎！又見過佢晌街度照顧細佢三年嘅眼瞓細佬..... 同三姨（我細妹）蹺住手一齊行街..... 英文會話水準好好同 uncle B 對答如流兼唔會怕醜..... 佢真係大個女勒！

我不嬲都覺得唔少父母（一廂情願地）認為自己嘅兒女聰明好樣可愛，不過呢次我自己都難免此弊，覺得自己個（姨甥）女小時了了，大果然佳！

野米撈

基本「飯底」係四分三速食米 (parboiled rice)、四分一野米..... 再加烚熟短度四季豆、baby carrot、baby 蠔菇、火腿粒粒......

晌歐洲好多唔同牌子呢類分好份量嘅「袋裝米」賣，用個煲加水就煮到。當然啲米同一般香港人鍾意食嘅質感好唔同又冇「飯味」。我其實麻麻地鍾意食黏性大嘅飯，有咬口粒粒分明嘅比較啱我，所以呢款我覺得唔錯，纖維又多喎！

野蘭野蘭我愛您之一

今季跑出第一名野生地生蘭 Orchis collina, Fan-lipped orchid

上年晌相同地點都見過佢，不過係遲少少。

味之謎

曾幾何時西多士被我認定為美食..... 應該係十歲上下..... 今時今日再食，已經不再有當日嘅雀躍～

最美最好嘅，唔通只有在回憶中？

Sabor de antes 古早風味！當真？

又係我貪新鮮..... 上星期晌「嘉落幅」見到佢，冇「奶油」唔試下......

上面係我烘焙時常用嘅冇鹽牛油......

古早味新嘢都係冇鹽，等我整下包先得～

My most diligent backyard guardian

Too many good food choices, too little time and capacity....

Before we left for HK, I had an ambitious plan to eat as much good Chinese food as I could. Well..... it turned out that we tried out some good restaurants but it's far far away from my target set beforehand. I got constant stomach ache during my last week there (will be explained in another blog entry) and I simply could not eat much, in fact, I did not have much appetite. One of the remarkable things was, Bart had managed to have some kind of mango desserts almost everyday. He definitely is crazy about mangoes and my elder sister bought him some fresh mangoes to bring home.

Totally not my cup of tea or coffee

Well, HK style Milk Tea has never been my favorite. I was a 'Hot Black Tea w/Lemon Slices' person when I lived in HK. A change of heart after I moved to Europe and I became a coffee person. My daily breakfast has been a cup of cappuccino for many years.

This time in HK, I tried to have some other breakfast options most of the time but I could not help to have cappuccino from time to time..... Big big disappointment.... We tried Delifrance, Starbucks, Pacific Coffee as well as Habitu and they all sell 'goldfish bowl' size cappuccino. That was not the worst part..... They simply give too little coffee and too much milk. I talked to the guy behind the counter in Habitu Wanchai Gloucester Road branch and he told me the truth, majority of their customers prefer that kind of size and taste. I wonder, where can I get a decent cappuccino as it should be in HK if I do not want to go to a hotel? And would I really get a 'real' cappuccino in a hotel?

p.s. My writing pad is not functioning well with Windows 7.0...... Probably I have to buy a new one.... sigh......

鴉瓜

嚟咗歐洲十年幾，一路都係飲瓶裝水，無他，我覺得水喉水好大陣味！一般歐洲嘅瓶水多數係「礦泉水」﹔蒸餾水（無試過飲唔飲得）係用嚟放入熨斗、車嘅水箱、增濕機.....等等度用。

我哋住呢區晌西班牙至硬水區之內，因此我哋裝咗一個  limescale prevention device 晌主喉，減低家電如熱水爐、洗衣機、洗碗碟機...... 內部喉管因硬水加熱後引致 limescale 積聚而壞機嘅可能。幫我裝呢個東東嘅英國佬 David 都係住晌呢個小區，賣花梗要讚花香喇：佢就咁飲水喉水兼且佢屋企電水壺因此唔需要常常 descale。其實個 device 係軟化唔晒啲「硬嘢」嘅，因為我仍然要久不久 descale 電熱水壺、espresso 機、同熨斗、洗衫時仍有落 Calgon（一半建議份量）、洗碗碟機都係用 Calgon tablets....... 不過我都係無直接飲水喉水........

直至四個月前，我發覺飲瓶裝水實在製造太多膠垃圾！（都製造咗十年多）於是....... 我晌 hypermarket 買咗個 Brita 濾水壺...... 我同麻煩開始飲水喉水嘞～ 而我煲水沖茶、整咖啡同熨衫都係用 Brita 濾咗嘅水..... 經過雙重處理，真係無乜 limescale buildup，至少我都幾個月唔駛 descale。而因飲水而製造嘅膠垃圾亦減少至一個月一個濾芯，自己都覺得無咁對唔住地球先生～